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Random BSODs 1E, IDE DVD-RW not detected, Freezing on Welcome/Loading screen

C

core2kid

Senior member
I'm completely lost here guys. Recently I had a problem where my IDE CD Drive would open on return from Standby. Used a new IDE cable to fix that problem but I now have so many others:

Specs:
Asus P5Q-E|Q9550|4GB DDR2|9800GTX+|1TB SATA HD|IDE CD/DVD-RW|SATA DVD-RAM|Media card reader|650W Cooler Master PSU|XP MCE x86/7 Pro x64 (Both legal, no cracks) on partitioned drive

I don't really know much about the IDE drive problem above so I'll start from the last 2 days.
couple months ago:
BSODs randomly where the HDD couldn't be read (BSOD 7E I think). Unplugged and replugged in HDD SATA cable and the computer booted right up. I don't think I ever had a crash in Windows.

3 days ago:
Computer would crash when returning from Standby (occasionally) or when shutting down (always) with the BSOD 1E error. I didn't care much, just ignored it because of midterms and being busy.

2 days ago:
Computer crashed coming out of standby and wouldn't turn back on. I'd either get the 1E error on startup or the computer would just freeze on the Windows 7 animation. XP would freeze at the Welcome screen. Opened the computer and saw my IDE drive was plugged in however it wasn't working for the past 3 months. Unplugged IDE drive and computer started up on the 2nd try.

Yesterday:
Constantly crashing. Nothing worked. Even unplugging the IDE drive didn't work. If it started, it'd crash after a while. I left it alone.

Today:
Turned on after about 18 hours. Crashed in about 5 minutes. The BIOS knows theres an IDE drive there but the BIOS detects it as scrambled letters.
I disassembled the computer and I'm currently running it off a cardboard box (get rid of any static that may be there). IDE Drive recognized most of the time. XP loads fine all the time, 7 doesn't load (Freezes on animation). XP Crashed after about an hour of use with a "Watchdog.sys" error. Rebooted XP and it came right back up, no IDE drive detected though.
Windows 7 still doesn't start with the IDE drive. Last time I shutdown 7 was after I uninstalled ALL IDE drivers thinking that it was a driver conflict.

IDE drive AND cable used to work fine on this machine about 10 months ago. I'd unplugged it for something, I don't remember what.
BIOS has been reset to factory defaults and it's the same version I'm using that worked. Same configuration too, no hardware changes have been made since the time it worked and the time it broke.

More info
After restarting from a crash, whatever settings I did such as enabling quicklaunch or moving desktop icons on XP get reverted to their default values. On Windows 7, Google Chrome always comes up with "Your preferences cannot be read".
System is not overclocked, I know it's not overheating (30C Idle), SATA cables and IDE cables were replaced with no success. IDE drive and cable has been tested to work on another computer.

Any ideas guys? I'm so lost here. Motherboard failing? If so, this will be my second RMA...
 
Here's a screenshot of what it reported. The bottom part is the same but the files are listed here.
bsod.jpg


Had a problem today where it would crash on loading (Black screen, not the blue screen). Unplugged IDE drive and it booted up. I'm really starting to think its an IDE port issue. Is there any problem with 1 SATA DVD Drive and 1 IDE DVD Drive?
 
mfenn said:
So, does it run fine when you don't have the IDE drive plugged in at all?
Click to expand...

Occasionally. Right now there's no IDE drive and it came out of standby fine however it froze for about 5 minutes before the mouse and keyboard activated. I've had days where the PC works fine with the IDE drive and sometimes without it, the PC crashes.
 
Have you tried a fresh install of Windows (either one)?

If so, the next step is to take the computer down to the bare essentials, that is: PSU, mobo, CPU, 1 stick of RAM, GPU, and 1 HDD. Take it out of the case and use a key or other conductive object on the power switch pins to start it. If it works, then you know one of the components that you removed was causing the problem. If it doesn't, try swapping in any spare parts you have (RAM, PSU, GPU, etc.) to try to find the faulty component.
 
mfenn said:
Have you tried a fresh install of Windows (either one)?

If so, the next step is to take the computer down to the bare essentials, that is: PSU, mobo, CPU, 1 stick of RAM, GPU, and 1 HDD. Take it out of the case and use a key or other conductive object on the power switch pins to start it. If it works, then you know one of the components that you removed was causing the problem. If it doesn't, try swapping in any spare parts you have (RAM, PSU, GPU, etc.) to try to find the faulty component.
Click to expand...

I'll give that a try. I'm using the computer right now out of the case on a cardboard box. Is that alright?

My board has a power switch on it so no worries about having to short power connectors.
 
core2kid said:
I'll give that a try. I'm using the computer right now out of the case on a cardboard box. Is that alright?

My board has a power switch on it so no worries about having to short power connectors.
Click to expand...

Yeah, no problems with running the PC on a cardboard box.
 
mfenn said:
Yeah, no problems with running the PC on a cardboard box.
Click to expand...

Sorry I didn't answer the question about a fresh install. No, I haven't done a fresh install but the problem is on XP and Windows 7. I'd find it odd to be OS related if the problem is on both OS's.

So 2 days in a row, my computers been working fine. No problems. Is there a possibility that just my IDE port is fried?
 
Maybe the IDE drive is going bad. Some motherboards do not support IDE drives that well. It is best to get rid of all IDE drives. They are dinosaurs (My opinion). Intermittent problems could be things like power supply and bad RAM.
 
piasabird said:
Maybe the IDE drive is going bad. Some motherboards do not support IDE drives that well. It is best to get rid of all IDE drives. They are dinosaurs (My opinion). Intermittent problems could be things like power supply and bad RAM.
Click to expand...

Already tried 3 different IDE drives. I can't let this drive go because it's a drive I use to rip Wii games. After loosing a $40 game from abuse, all my brother gets now is the backups of what he wants to play.
 
core2kid said:
Already tried 3 different IDE drives. I can't let this drive go because it's a drive I use to rip Wii games. After loosing a $40 game from abuse, all my brother gets now is the backups of what he wants to play.
Click to expand...

Looks like a PCI or PCIe IDE controller is in your future. At least that can be moved around between machines as necessary.
 
mfenn said:
Looks like a PCI or PCIe IDE controller is in your future. At least that can be moved around between machines as necessary.
Click to expand...

OMG I totally forgot that I already have one of those from the time I had RAID IDE Drives. Guess I'll be digging through boxes tomorrow. Thanks guys!

Last question, if the IDE ports failed and the board is under warranty, is it worth RMAing? It'll cost me around $15 shipping and no computer for 2 weeks. I only ask because I don't want a RAM slot to fail next month.
 
A failing IDE port is certainly a legitimate reason to RMA, but we can't really say whether or not it is worth it in terms of your time and money. It really depends on how important this is to you.
 
Well even without the IDE drive connected, I'm still getting some instabillity. Already tried with 1 RAM stick, different GPU, different power supply. Basically everything except a new CPU.

Let me give Asus a call, I tried twice and all they said was "Call back, we're busy". Hopefully I don't have to buy a new board, I don't think that's worth it. I can part it out right now for probably $250, $350 for a new i7 and board vs the $50 for a new board. Sound about right?
 
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